Victoria Macdonald
How neglect by an NHS hospital contributed to a teenager’s death
This is the second inquest in five days where a young person has died and the finding has been “contributed to by neglect”.
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Victoria Macdonald
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Victoria Macdonald
New duty of candour legislation creates ‘two-tier health system’
New rules obliging the NHS to report when something has gone wrong, are not to be applied to private clinics and GPs, warns a patients’ charity.
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Victoria Macdonald
Who Cares: the play that puts the NHS under the knife in the election
The debate around the future of the NHS has inspired a play at the Royal Court that raises key questions about the health service. But have parties missed the chance to hear what voters want?
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Victoria Macdonald
Little prospect of relief for cash-strapped NHS in the budget
Will there be any relief for the NHS in the chancellor’s statement? I have spoken to a number of health economists and the general feeling is there’s not likely to be much.
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Victoria Macdonald
Pattern of failures that put babies’ lives at risk
A “catalogue of failures at almost every level” is linked to the death of three mothers and 16 babies at Furness General Hospital.
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Victoria Macdonald
Giving NHS whistleblowers the freedom to speak up
Over the years I have reported on a number of cases in which whistleblowers have had their careers, reputations and lives blown apart because they have tried to do the right thing.
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Victoria Macdonald
Burnham in spotlight for Labour’s 10-year NHS plan
If this winter has identified anything it is that the health and social care system is not working together as well as it should. Indeed, some less kindly souls might say it’s barely working at all.
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Victoria Macdonald
Why sorry can be the hardest word for doctors
There are many doctors who would gladly have apologised when a mistake has been made but who will have been told by their management or their lawyers that they should do no such thing.
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Staffordshire NHS: innovation or backdoor privatisation?
A process that could see private companies running cancer care and end of life services in Staffordshire has been condemned by the union Unison, but is it really the thin end of the wedge?
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Victoria Macdonald
The Snowy White Peaks of the NHS: a survey of discrimination
The researcher and author, Roger Kline, recently published a report he called The Snowy White Peaks of the NHS – It could not have been more apt a title.
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Victoria Macdonald
Rethinking social care: experts back a ‘fundamental shift’ in delivery
An unusually high number of reports on the care system in England are being released this week – all of them are urging a rethink of the way health and care are delivered.
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Victoria Macdonald
Jeremy Hunt breaks up Mid Staffs Foundation Trust
Mid-Staffs NHS trust became a byword for neglectful, inhumane care. And with a trashed reputation, and an £11m deficit, turning it around is no longer an option.
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Victoria Macdonald
NHS reform: a year on from the Francis report into Mid-Staffs, what has changed?
Published exactly a year ago, the Francis report triggered a plethora of reviews into how the NHS is run. But have they led to real improvements in service at a time of extreme financial pressure?
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Victoria Macdonald
Mid-Staffs report: Francis welcomes government’s response
What is most surprising about today’s government response to the Francis inquiry is just how many of the recommendations ministers have accepted.
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Hospitals ordered to publish monthly staffing levels
Hospital bosses will have to publish the number of nurses on wards in response to the Mid Staffs scandal. But the government has stopped short of imposing minimum staffing levels.
